Iran has increased the University of Tehran’s budget for scholarships to Afghan students fivefold.
Masoomeh Malik, an official of the University of Tehran, said this would enable Iran to support more Afghan students, especially women, in 2023.
Currently, 470 Afghan students, 140 of them women, are studying at Tehran University.
More than half of these students have scholarships, the official added, according to Financial Tribune.
Some women’s activists in Afghanistan welcome the move, saying Afghan girls deprived of education need support.
“Under current conditions where schools, universities and other educational facilities are closed for the Afghan girls, and girls are fully deprived of education, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s move on accepting students deprived of education is a good and commendable move,” said Tarana Adeeb, a women’s rights activist.
Negina Yari, another activist, said, “Unfortunately, the educational programs of neighboring countries on Afghan girls’ education are for short term and it cannot help women and girls in the long term. Moreover, neighboring countries should politically exploit the critical situation of Afghan girls and women.”
Last month, Dubai billionaire Khalaf Al Habtoor offered to provide support to 100 Afghan female students in Dubai, Ariana News reported.
In a meeting with Acting Higher Education Minister of Afghanistan Mawlawi Abdul Baqi Haqqani, after a scientific discussion last year, the Iranian ambassador in Kabul, Bahador Aminian, vowed to provide scholarships to Afghan students.
Haqqani asked the ambassador to assist Afghanistan in the sector of education, Bakhtar News Agency reported.
The Iranian envoy invited a technical delegation from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education to visit Iran and take a close look at Iran’s education system and use its experience.
He assured the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education regarding the provision of educational scholarships to Afghan students and teachers.
Iran’s Interior Ministry says it has approved residency permits for more than one million Afghan refugees currently in the country.
Sadiq Rezadoost, Iran’s director general for foreign nationals and immigrant affairs at the Interior Ministry, said all nationals who came to Iran after the political developments in Afghanistan last year, or who were given papers in the past years, should not worry because their papers will be extended, Ariana News reported.
“The residence permits of more than one million Afghan citizens have been extended; Afghan citizens should not worry, because their papers will be extended after this date and conditions for their return to Afghanistan have not yet been provided,” said Rezadoost.
“A special residency card is also issued for those who are working in this country,” he added.
The officials of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations say currently more than three million Afghan refugees are in Iran and only one million of them have residency documents.
“In Iran, we have approximately three million refugees, of which two million still do not have residency documents,” said Abdulmutallab Haqqani, the spokesman of MoRR.
“The ministry of refugees has tried to get Iran to give them a residence permit so that they obtain all the rights for immigrants according to international laws,” he said.
However, experts say Afghan refugees living in neighboring countries are facing many problems and challenges.
Recently, a multilateral meeting between the representatives of Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the International Organization for Migration was held in Iran to solve the problems of refugees.
MNA/PR
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